Booksellers Association tells Amazon to ‘pay a proper share of taxation’

The Booksellers Association (BA) has called for Amazon and other online retailers to be given a taxation overhaul, after it claimed “bookshops have closed because of Amazon”.

MPs were warned by the association that Amazon was “putting numerous competitors out of business” and demanded “large scale internet retailers pay a proper share of taxation” during a parliamentary inquiry into the role of the high street.

The BA said that it had seen the number of UK bookshops half to 858 since the British launch of Amazon 20 years ago.

As many as 75 key retail associations have submitted letters to the hearing in which the majority blame consumers choosing internet home shopping over a visit to the high street. The parliamentary inquiry has its first hearing scheduled for Monday.

The British Property Federation (BPF) told the inquiry that the government needed to take high street struggles more seriously.

The BPF’s submission said: “This inquiry seeks to establish what our high streets will look like in 2030. It is difficult to look at such a long-time horizon but what we can say with some certainty is most will look awful long before then if the status quo is maintained.”